Conversation:

I'm now really scared.
I just spent a whole day trying to remember this rhyme for no good reason and now I come online and it's here on the front page.
Thanx for answering my poor memory though.

No problem.

In more recent times, the tune for
this rhyme has been used in television
commercials, most notably one for
Chef Boyardi canned pasta products.

I remember the Orwell "1984" sequence
well. The book was written 1948 (the year
of my birth, and Orwell's death). Orwell
transposed the "4" and the "8" in that
year, and the result was "1984," the year
and title of his book. Clever. Also
a depressing scenario.